In 1982 Dr. B was recruited by the Department of psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He attained a faculty position of assistant professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology. His main role was that of diagnostician for the NIMH Clinical Research Branch on the Psychobiology of Depression. In addition he taught graduate level courses in human development, career development and substance abuse in the graduate program in Art Therapy at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Dr. B retired from 40 years of hospital psychiatry in 2010. He moved from Chicago to Sedona Arizona in 2011.

Dr. B’s clinical practice has had many influences which have led to the writing of his soon-to-be published book, “Your Feelings are Your Compass”. He was born in Chicago in 1948 after 68 hours of labor. He was raised Catholic in a very religious family. While in grammar school he spent two years preparing for attending a Passionist Monastery intending to become a Passionist Monk. He discovered that he was not suited to the monastic life and left the monastery after three weeks. He recalls that in his first week in high school he told a classmate of his that instead of becoming a priest, he would become a clinical psychologist and open up a private practice office on Michigan Avenue, which actually became a reality 25 years later. At age 14 he came across a book at his aunt’s house which had a major impact on his decision to become a clinical psychologist. It was a book by Carl Jung titled Modern Man in Search of a Soul. Jung’s  blending of Eastern and Western religions and philosophies resonated deeply with Dr. B’s ideas about the meaning and purpose of life. It was also at this time that he became intrigued with parapsychology as another way of approaching the spiritual aspect of human existence. These ideas dovetailed with his interest in astronomy, which had been his primary hobby since early childhood.

While working at Michael Reese Hospital as a research assistant, Dr. B developed panic attacks. His working in the psychoanalytic bastion in Chicago put him at odds with his spiritual interests and the Jungian approach to understanding psychological suffering. He entered analysis with a Jungian Analyst who had arrived from India just a few months prior, to start the Jungian analytic training program in Chicago. Dr Vasavada studied at the Jung Institute in Zurich while Jung was still teaching and had analytic sessions with Jung. It had been predicted by a well-known psychic two years earlier that a man would come from across the ocean in two years, short and broad shouldered wearing a turban. He would take me under his wing teaching me everything he knew. I worked him for a period of twenty-eight years as my analyst, teacher, l guru ,friend .  I studied at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago and obtained a certificate in Analytical Psychotherapy.

Another major influence in Dr B’s work as a psychotherapist was his training at the Focusing Institute of Chicago which was founded by Dr. Eugene Gendlin. He worked with Dr. Gendlin in therapy for a period of two years and became a certifying Coordinator in the Focusing institute. Combining the somatic work of the Focusing Process with the analytic understanding of the structure and dynamics of the psyche became the foundation of his clinical practice as a psychotherapist.

Dr B’s study of the teachings of J. Krishnamurti also had a major impact on his understanding of the suffering of humanity . Recognizing the limitations of human thought opened up the possibility of tapping into a different level of functioning of thought as an organ of perception, bypassing the limitations created by faulty social conditioning.  Also  understanding the concept of time as it relates to past psychological experience opened the door to the possibility of transcending the negative influence of conclusive thinking.